Indecent Exposure

Today the temp. is 21C/69F and no wind. Very pleasant. I can't enjoy it quite yet. Tomorrow I can go outside, but forecast is rain.

Yesterday in Halifax, we had the parade of nude bikers. I think it is called "World Bicycle Awareness Day". Bet if you asked the bystanders what kinds of bicycles they were riding, no one would know. It's mostly women who do it. They must be thinking,"Tee hee, I can be naughty and get away with it." I wonder what would have happened if they gave everyone a ticket. For sure, we would have been on CNN. What would they do if it had rained?

This morning I had to package up an old magazine ad. It's on its way to Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles. It's a 1961 Seagram's 7 Crown ad. Once I sent an ad to the postal code 90210. Another time I sent one to Boston to be used in a movie, and my name was in the credits. So there.

Back to revising part 5 for "A Slice of Time." My arc got kind of raggid in the middle. I hooked up this blog to my Goodreads page, so it will always have something. I wrote in the names of eighty books I've read. Read a lot more than those, but don't remember the titles.

I'm not allowed to drive for two weeks, so no yard sales for me. Last week I was at a yard sale and purchased a bunch of books. I gave a boxfull to a friend of ours. Her daughter's class is having a booksale to raise money for a trip.

This Side of the Grass

Well, I'm still on the same side of the grass. Came home from the hospital yesterday. The big thing is not to move around too much. I'll try. Not allowed to drive my van for two weeks.

It's sunny today, since I can't go out. The forecast for the next two weeks is rain. The U.S. has forest fires, Europe has droughts and we have rain all the time. I guess we have to wait till they control the weather, to take care of all these problems. Sounds good, but unfortunately they will use it as a weapon. That would really be a weaopn of mass destruction.

This is curbside giveaway weekend. That's stuff you don't want to bother selling. Just put it on the curb and anyone can take it. I wish they had it last week, when I wasn't sick. I talked my wife and son to go around for me. I want a dresser for my shed, to put my tool boxes on, and stash stuff away. Free yard sales! No trouble talking my wife into that.

I'm reading this book "Their Last Suppers: Legends of History and Their Final Meals."  Pretty fancy eating, like the captain of the Titanic and his nine course meal. It's a free book from Kindle. The pocket book I'm reading is "Ford Country," by John Grisham.

The 3rd and 4th part of "A Slice of Time", is at the publishers. The 5th and sth are finished, but I have to do some changing. I guess I now have the available time. http://amzn.to/jSQLeq  link for first two parts, on Amazon.

I imagine a lot of you people know about Goodreads. If not, check it out if you read a lot. http://www.goodreads.com/

The Time Machine.

Tomorrow is my operation and it reminds me, until this prostate business, I haden't been in a hospital for fifty years. (Not counting visiting, of course). So tomorrow, I put on the dressing gown and my plastic booties. Then I walk to the operating room, which I find kind of weird. Then they give me a little stool, and I climb up on the operating table. Also weird. They have an oven in there where they warm up blankets, so they cover me with a warm blanket until everything is ready. (Not weird, cozy).

So everything is going great. We are having a nice conversation, then Zap! I'm in the future, a different room and a different time. A Time Machine, that's what it is. When you wake up, you don't know how far into the future you've come. Hopefully only a few hours. So, if anyone ever asks me, "Have you ever done time travel?" I can in all honesty say "yes."

Time For Hospital Food

The weather for this week is rain. I think all week. We had a couple of good days last week, where we were able to cut the grass. I wanted to cut it this week before I go to the hospital. There won't be much cutting afterwards.

Because of an enlarged prostate, I had to have an operation last Dec. So they cut a part of it out and that should have been the end of it. But, by Feb, it grew back. So I need another operation, which is on Thur. I was wondering if it is like the miracle of loaves and fishes, or is it because I'm so healthy. I won't be cutting off a finger to test that theory.

This pretty well wrecks my summer. For the first few days, I was only allowed to walk around the house. A few days later, I was allowed to go out on the patio. (But who would, in Dec.?) I wasn't allowed to drive for two weeks. No lifting for a few months. I'm wondering if this time around, the rules will be more stringent.

At least I know what to expect. The first time I go to the washroom, it will be really bad, but each time after will be less. All the chores, I lined up for the summer, had to be done in the last two weeks. Too bad, I like cutting grass. It will give me time to write my YA book.

Mint Tea In Marrakesh

That's it, the election is over. The silent majority will be quiet for another four years, or maybe five. With a majority, they can screw us over good. No one can complain because we said we wer tired of voting so often.

You have to laugh at some candidates who won. The NDP really didn't expect to win so many seats, and some people entered the race, just so the spot wouldn't be empty. The one who stands out the most is the assistant bar manager from Ottawa, who ran for a seat in Quebec, and doesn't speak French. During the five week campaign she went to Las Vegas on vacation. She never gave any speeches, held any news conferences, and it appears she never even visited the riding. So, is this an example of, "Some people are trust into greatness," or "You deserve what you get."

The second part of my story came out last week. I'm waiting for it to show up on Amazon. You feel more legitimate when it shows up there. They asked for part 3 yesterday, so that is now in there. There are six parts and I have completed all of them. Now I am working on a book about two teens going on vacation to Morocco. I wrote about them sitting in a cafe in Marrakesh, drinking mint tea, and a couple of days later I read in the paper, the cafe was bombed. Not my fault, even though the terrorists are after these guys.

It's still raining here, as it has for a couple of weeks, and will all this week. Grass definately needs cutting.

How Smart Are You?

We sometimes think the Americans are fairly dumb, as to their preception of Canada. There is a lot of truth to it, especially when you see them up here in July, with skies on their cars, asking where the snow is. And I think Americans will agree they know little about Canada. Up here, we have the idea we know a lot more about the States, and to an extent, it's true. Of course, our knowledge of the U.S. is sort of warped. We get it all from TV. I've been to the States close to 40 times, and I never saw any downtown car chase, no one holding up a bank, and I never even saw one celebrity. I saw more celebrities when I worked at the airport.

From an article I read in the paper this morning, I'm inclined to think Canadians should not be too smug. I read about a poll they took about how much Canadians know about the North. Well, it appears not that much. 69%  believe people up north still have an Igloo as their main residence. 38% are not aware Eskimo are now called Inuit. 50% believe we have military bases protecting the Northwest Passage. 74% think Penguins live up there. Sorry, no Penguins up there, they're in Pittsburg. We do have one Penguin, who now lives here part time. That would be Sidney Crosby, who used to live a few streets away.

Mind you, it was a very small poll, only 303 people. So, I'm thinking, maybe they took the poll in Ottawa, where all the politicans live.

On To the Next Project

Gee, I haven't written anything here for a week. Time does fly. Especially when you're older. True. The temp. today is 0C/32F and it is supposed to be 7C/45F. When they say that, it's usually on the low side. It will probably be 10C today. It seems this snow just won't give up. We had it a few times this week. This time last year, I was outside working. Cleaning up all that landed in my yard over the winter. I also have to tune up my two lawn mowers.

Yesterday I sent in my Part 2, "Brigintine", for the series "A Slice Of Time." There are four more parts, one each month. I've finished them all, but won't send them in till later. I keep going back over them. When it first started, I was told it should be between 3000 and 5000 words. So that's what I did. The first was 3000 and each one after increases. The last is closer to 6000. I noticed the first day some didn't pay any attention to the 3000 - 5000 limit.

It's supposed to be for readers who are reluctent to read. That being the case, I thought I would start with 3000 and work my way up. That way, with each story, they would be reading more.

With that being mostly finished, I've started on a new one, about two boys going on vacation. It won't be 5000 words, since I have 2000 and they haven't arrived at the destination yet. It helps to have been with the military in Europe for four years, and travelled a lot.

Election promises are running rampant. The good thing about our elections is that they only last six weeks and there won't be another for 3 -5 years.